Flowers and Chocolate and Deceit
by Lady Emily
Summary: What if Cody HAD enlisted Bailey's help in making Barbara jealous during Flowers and Chocolate? Cody/Bailey *Complete!*
1. Chapter 1

Summary: In "Flowers and Chocolate," Cody enlists Bailey's help to make Barbara jealous.

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine and this story was written purely for fun!

* * *

"Hey Cody? Can I ask a quick question about your friend Barbara?" Bailey Pickett asked, stopping outside the entrance to the S.S. Tipton movie theater. "Is everything all right? Because she seemed a little... cold... towards me."

_Oh, here we go, _Cody Martin thought with a mental groan, stopping short. His friends Barbara and Bob were visiting him and Zack from Boston, and surprised him with the news that they were together... although Cody and Barbara were still _technically _dating. He'd really made a mess of things when, to save face, he'd told Barbara that he had _also _moved on and was now dating Bailey, his crush. _I wish..._

Bailey was supposed to be at her cousin's farm, but when her visit had been unexpectedly cut short Cody had been forced to play along with his own story. On the bright side, Barbara seemed to be buying it. On the dark side, how was he supposed to tell Bailey that he'd lied about her just to make his ex-girlfriend jealous?

She was staring at him expectantly with her gorgeous brown eyes. _Quick, Cody, think!_ At this point he had two options: pretend nothing was wrong, or tell Bailey the truth. As far as he could tell both options had equal potential to blow up in his face. _Maybe if I tell her **most** of the truth? I just have to frame it right. As Zack would say: play the sympathy card._

"Well," Cody began nervously, taking her elbow and moving them over to one side of the hall. "The thing is, Barbara was my girlfriend."

Bailey's brow furrowed in a way that Cody found simply adorable. "You never told me you had a girlfriend."

"It wasn't serious." Cody assured her rapidly. "Or, well, it wasn't _that_ serious, but anyway, when you met her this afternoon she'd just finished telling me that she's in love with Bob now... and they hooked up the very same night I left Boston."

Bailey's jaw dropped. "Oh, Cody, I'm so sorry! How _dare_ she treat you like that! Are you okay?" She placed one hand on his elbow and one on his shoulder and squeezed comfortingly.

Cody nodded, trying to simultaneously ignore and savor the gentle pressure of her touch. "But then I said... I said it didn't bother me, because I was dating someone else too. I told her you were my new girlfriend, Bailey." he confessed, "I'm so sorry, it just slipped out of my mouth. I know I shouldn't have done it-"

"Cody, it's all right!" Bailey interrupted with a gentle smile.

Cody's eyes snapped to hers in surprise. He had expected her to be upset that he'd lied. Her sweet sympathy just made him love her even more. "It is?"

She nodded, stroking hair out of his face. "I understand. You poor thing. You don't want Barbara to know that she broke your heart!"

Hardly heartbroken, Cody forced himself to focus on the conversation rather than the attention the true object of his affection was paying him. "Uh... yeah."

"Well I'm not going to tell her, I promise." Bailey said earnestly. Suddenly a wicked smile played over her face. "In fact, if you want, we can have a little fun with her. If we pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend, I bet we can totally make her jealous. She'll be sorry she threw you over for that Bob guy. She might even want you back!"

Cody's eyes widened. Bailey was offering to play along with his scheme; that would mean hugging her, hand-holding, sweet-talking, everything he wished for... But could he handle doing those things with Bailey knowing all the while that their relationship was a fake?

It was a risk he was willing to take. "I like the sound of that." he admitted with a small smile, hiding the way he was bursting with anticipation on the inside.

Bailey grinned brilliantly. "Okay, how's this: we've been dating for two months, we tried to restrain ourselves because of Barbara, but we just couldn't fight the feelings we had for each other. You kissed me for the first time after that school dance, on a deserted sky deck, under the stars-"

"Bailey?"

She stopped, the slightly distant look disappearing from her face. "Right. Sorry. So that's our story."

"Sounds great, but we're about to miss the start of the movie." Cody said. He couldn't deny that it _did_ sound great. "And Bailey, thanks for helping me with this."

"Aw, Cody, you're one of my best friends." Bailey said, giggling slightly at the startled look he gave her when she grabbed his hand. "Any time you need help I'm here. Especially when you need help getting revenge on cheating, no-good, back-stabbing girlfriends! ...Ooh. Sorry." she apologized for her enthusiasm. "You're sure you're gonna be okay with this?"

Cody squeezed her hand as they entered the movie theater together. "I think I'm gonna be fine."

Cody tried and failed to smother a smirk at the expression on Zack's face when he and Bailey walked in holding hands- he looked like his eyeballs were going to pop right out of his head. Ignoring his twin's questioning looks, Cody ushered Bailey into the row beside Zack, Bob, and Barbara and settled his arm around her shoulders. He noticed Barbara frowning at them and shared a conspiratorial glance with Bailey. "Can I get you a snack before the movie starts, sweetie?" he offered.

"Great idea, honeybear." Bailey returned in a sugary voice. "How about a soda? With two straws?"

"Coming right up." Cody promised, getting up and heading for the snack bar. Zack followed, catching up with him just as he finished ordering the soda and some popcorn.

"Did you build a Bailey robot?" his brother asked accusingly.

Cody rolled his eyes. "Uh, no."

"Then what is _this, honeybear_?" Zack mocked, waving his hands between Cody and Bailey. "Don't tell me you finally got the stones to ask her out! Congratulations, bro! It's only taken you five mon..." he trailed off, watching Cody silently collect straws and napkins. "No... Oh no... Cody... She's pretending to be your girlfriend because she feels sorry for you, isn't she? _Isn't she?_"

Cody received his order and stabbed the straws into the soda lid, not dignifying his brother with a response. Returning to Bailey, he sat down just as the opening credits began to flicker across the screen and wrapped his arm around her shoulders once more. He could feel Barbara sneaking peeks at him... Apparently Bailey could too because she smiled sweetly at him and fed him a kernel of popcorn.

Peering across the row at Barbara, he saw her fold her arms and look away.

* * *

"Good night, Bob. Barbara." Bailey smiled, wrapping her arms around Cody from behind and leaning into him as the two couples went their separate ways outside the restaurant. After the movie they'd decided on dinner and dancing in one of the ship's restaurants. Zack had opted out, seemingly because he couldn't choose one girl from the half-dozen he'd picked up pretending to be "sensitive" at that awful chick flick. But it was difficult for Cody to think about Zack when Bailey's body was pressed against his... "Walk me back to my cabin?" she said coyly into his ear.

Cody swallowed audibly. "Anything for you, Bails." After Barbara and Bob left (with a dirty parting glance from Barbara), Bailey released him and his breathing began to return to normal.

"We totally fooled them both." Bailey crowed. She held her hand up for a high five. "I guess we make a good fake couple."

Cody slapped her hand half-heartedly. "Yeah..." The combination of feeling like his wish had been granted and at the same time knowing it was all an act left him with a bittersweet taste in his mouth. Maybe he should have lied earlier instead of enlisting Bailey's help with Barbara... After all, wasn't not telling Bailey about his feelings for her a lie in itself? They started to walk together down the hall. "Thanks again Bailey. I won't walk you to your room if you don't want me to." he offered up awkwardly, feeling strange about continuing the charade when no one else was around.

"But what if they come back?" Bailey reasoned. "Besides, we have to make a plan for tomorrow."

"We do?"

"Well sure," Bailey said as she and Cody stepped out into the cool night breeze of the sky deck. "I mean, Barbara is clearly getting jealous already, but did you see the suspicious looks she's been giving us all night? She can probably tell that we've mostly just been copying the way she and Bob are acting." She rested her arms on the railing and paused, staring out into the darkness. Then she turned to Cody and snorted, "I don't blame her for being jealous though. Bob seems like a nice guy and all, but he's got nothing on you."

Cody froze. "Wha... what do you mean?" He attempted and failed to ask it as a casual question.

Bailey shrugged. "I just mean you're a _lot_ more attractive than poor Bob. Plus," she teased, elbowing him gently in the side. "You're a really good dancer!"

Cody smiled, secretly pleased that his 'International Date Line' moves had been put to use at last. "Thanks."

But Bailey continued as if she hadn't heard him. "Seriously, a girl would have to be crazy to dump you for him. Or to dump you at all, really. If Barbara can't see what a sweet guy you are..."

"Bailey..." Cody began, stunned. Was it him, or was she actually saying she thought he was attractive? Of course, she probably wouldn't think he was so sweet if she knew he was truly in love with her and not Barbara at all.

She turned and put her hands on his shoulders. "Trust me, Cody, she's not good enough for you. Someday you'll find someone who is, I promise."

Cody fought to keep himself from trembling under her touch. Bailey was much _too_ good for him.

Then she pulled back and clapped her hands together, suddenly businesslike. "But until then, or at least until Barbara leaves, you've just got me."

Just this morning he'd been afraid to look Barbara in the eye, and now he found himself wishing she would never leave, just so he could continue conspiring- and cuddling- with the girl in front of him. He cleared his throat. "Right. So until then... what kind of plans were you talking about?"

Bailey folded her arms in front of her. "Well, I was thinking, maybe, we should kiss." She must have seen Cody's face going white as a sheet, because she hurriedly added, "I mean, nothing major, of course we don't have to if you don't want to, I just, of course you don't want to, I'm sorry-"

"Bailey." he cut off her babbling by putting a finger over her lips. Then, in an uncharacteristically smooth move, he slid his hand over to cup her cheek and covered her mouth with his. Recognizing on some level that he might be in the middle of his only chance to do this, he kissed her with every ounce of longing he felt for her, moving his lips slowly over hers, trying to remember every miraculous millisecond of this. The kiss seemed to last a lifetime. When they finally pulled apart Cody noticed that this time it was her face that was pale. Realizing how much of his true feelings he'd just revealed, he hurried to cover them up. "You, uh, you mean, like that?" he stammered.

Bailey slowly reached up to touch her own lips, looking completely shell-shocked. "Uhm..."

Cody felt blood rushing to his face and rubbed the back of his neck. He'd obviously pushed his luck too far this time. "Bailey, I'm so sorry, I just... It was just..."

"Practice?" Bailey supplied faintly.

"Sure. Yeah." Cody agreed quickly, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I should have asked first-"

"I suggested it." Bailey countered. "It's okay."

"It was okay?"

Bailey began to back away from him. "Yeah, it was totally okay, I mean, if Barbara saw that she would have no doubt that you and I... I mean that... we... were... Well good night Cody. See you in the morning!" she turned and practically ran towards the girls' cabins.

Cody watched her go, his heart beating about a thousand times a minute. Everything felt new and unreal. Sagging against the railing, he glanced around the deserted sky deck, tilted his head toward the star-filled sky, and smiled.

* * *

A/N: Part two coming soon!


	2. Chapter 2

"You won't believe what I just did." Cody burst into Zack's room without knocking. "_I_ can't even believe it."

Zack didn't look over, but continued lying on his bed, repeatedly throwing a tennis ball up in the air and catching it. "If it's about finally cross-pollinating your weird plants I don't want to hear it."

Even a dig at his dream of creating the ultimate hybrid garden flower couldn't sidetrack Cody tonight. "I kissed Bailey."

Zack sat up suddenly and the tennis ball bounced off his head. "And?"

"And she ran away..." Cody admitted. "But she was really nice about it first."

"Uh-huh..." Zack seemed only vaguely perturbed by that revelation. "Well, sounds like a foot in the door to me, bro. How was it?"

Cody sighed dreamily, sinking onto the other bed. "Amazing. Fantastic. Magical."

"Stop swooning!" Zack said with disgust. "You know, half the time I can't tell if you're my brother or a girl."

"Nope, Zack. Calling me girly is not going to bring me down tonight." Cody returned with a goofy smile.

"How about if I reminded you that your relationship with Bailey is a _fake_? " Zack said. "Would that bring you down? Or maybe if I pointed out that she'll probably want an explanation for why you kissed her in the first place?"

Cody straightened up. "What am I gonna tell her?"

"How about this: 'Bailey... I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you." He punctuated each sentence with an obnoxious air kiss. "'I love-'"

Cody walked out and shut the door behind him.

* * *

Cody sighed as he stared at the faint circles under his eyes in the mirror. He'd gotten next to no sleep last night, tossing and turning as he'd worried about what he was going to say to Bailey, not to mention reliving that kiss over and over... He jumped at the sound of a gentle knock on the door, then quickly got a hold of himself and answered it. "Bailey?"

She was gorgeous as ever, but Cody thought with concern that she looked a bit tired too. "Hey Cody. I was just wondering if you... wanted to get some breakfast?"

Something in her voice made Cody think she was forcing her casual tone. Was she mad at him? "Sounds good." He flipped off the light switch and followed her into the hall. They walked in awkward silence through the corridors for a few minutes before he finally mustered the courage to ask, "Bailey, is everything okay?"

Bailey stopped short. "Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know..." Cody edged. "You just seem a little tired."

Bailey blushed. "Cody, the truth is..." She stopped, looking around as if to check for witnesses. Despite being in an empty hallway she reached out and opened the door to a nearby linen closet, pulling Cody inside and shutting the door. "The truth is, I've been awake all night, thinking..." she whispered.

Cody gulped, the combination of their close proximity and her breathy words giving him goosebumps. "Thinking about what?" he asked shakily.

"About this." She took his face in her hands and brought his mouth to hers. It took a long moment for Cody to convince himself he wasn't dreaming before he slid his hands to her waist and started returning the kiss with fervor. She tilted her head back and let him deepen the kiss. Both teens were panting when she abruptly pulled away. "I'm so sorry, Cody. I shouldn't have done that. I'm such an idiot!" she cried.

"What? No!" Cody protested, not understanding what had just happened. "Bailey-"

"I was just being stupid, I thought after last night... That kiss was so... but it was..." Bailey buried her face in her hands. "You're still upset over Barbara and instead of being a good friend I'm taking advantage of you in your time of weakness! I'm so sorry!"

Cody's eyes widened. "No Bailey, don't say that! You were... that kiss was...!"

"Cody, please forgive me. I promise I can keep it strictly platonic from now on." Bailey pleaded. She bit her lip and gave him a sheepish half-smile. "I guess you're just a good kisser."

_Nooooo..._ This conversation, which had started off _so _promising, was now spiraling wildly in the wrong direction. But she looked so earnest and upset and beautiful that he had to say, "There's nothing to forgive." _At least she thinks I'm a good kisser_, he tried to console himself. _Of course, that doesn't really matter since she's never going to speak to me again after this..._ he sighed. "Actually Bailey, there _is_ something to forgive. But I need _you_ to forgive _me_."

"What are you talking about, Cody?" She looked confused and worried and just plain adorable.

"You're not the one who should be feeling guilty. _I'm_ the one who's been taking advantage of _you_." Cody confessed.

"What do you mean?" Bailey said. "We both agreed on the terms of this little plan. I'm the one who took it too far."

"No... see, the thing is Bailey, I'm not still in love with Barbara. The girl I really like is, well... you." Seeing that she was speechless for the moment, he continued, "When I first heard about Barbara and Bob, I guess I was a little upset, but the reason I said I was dating you is because-" he paused guiltily. "Because I wished it was true. And then you offered to help me make her jealous and I said yes, only not because I care what she thinks. I just wanted to spend time with you."

"So... when you kissed me, you weren't thinking about Barbara." Bailey said in a low voice.

"No." Cody admitted. "I was thinking about how I'm crazy about you."

"You are?" Bailey asked. She didn't really need an answer, she could see it in his face. "Cody, that's sweet. And you're a really good friend, but... I can't believe you lied to me. You should have just _told_ me how you felt."

"I couldn't." Cody said miserably, knowing from the way she'd called him _friend_ that she was about to give him a gentle rejection.

"Look, Cody, I'm sorry. I meant what I said last night, that you're a great guy, and any girl would be lucky to have you, but I don't know if I'm ready for us to be anything more than friends." Bailey was twisting her fingers together anxiously. It was obviously a hard thing for her to say.

Cody couldn't seem to look away from the floor. "So you're saying it's not me, it's you?" he joked weakly.

Bailey folded her arms. "Oh no, it's you too. I can't believe you used me to get me to fall for you when you were _supposed_ to be using me to make Barbara jealous!"

"You're mad because I used you... for the wrong reasons?" Cody asked skeptically, then nodded slowly. "Okay, I guess that's fair. I really am sorry, Bailey. Still friends?"

"The best." Bailey confirmed, pulling him into a hug.

Cody closed his eyes tightly and hugged her back.

* * *

"No, Barbara, _I'm _sorry." Cody put down the towel he was folding and faced his ex-girlfriend as she stood on the Sky Deck, suitcase in hand, ready to deboard.

But Barbara pushed her glasses up on her nose and continued on. "I should have been honest with you about me and Bob from the beginning. It was wrong of me to start dating someone else without properly ending things with you first. You were my first love, Cody, but things change, and people grow apart... I really never meant to hurt you, I promise."

Cody smiled at her. "I know. And I completely understand, really. I'm glad you and Bob are happy, and I'm not upset with you. But I shouldn't have tried to make you jealous. To be honest, that really had nothing to do with you and Bob, it was for my own selfish reasons, and it wasn't fair to you or to Bailey."

Barbara smiled knowingly. "You've got a thing for her, huh?"

"Yeah." Cody admitted, slightly dejectedly.

An announcement came over the speakers. "Attention passengers: Departure in five minutes. All ashore that's going ashore."

"Well, I should go." Barbara said, stepping forward and enfolding Cody in a warm hug. "Thanks for inviting me, Cody. I'll see you next time you're in Boston."

"You bet." Cody replied. "Thanks for coming. Thanks for everything." He watched her walk away with a faint smile on his face before resuming his towel-folding.

"Cody."

The hand Bailey placed on his shoulder nearly made him jump out of his skin. "Oh, hey." He forced a smile onto his face.

"Listen, I overheard you and Barbara talking." Bailey said slowly. "And I thought it was really mature of you to apologize like that."

"Thanks." Cody said dryly, turning back to his towels.

Bailey placed her hands on top of his, causing him to freeze. "I was thinking, maybe you'd like to catch another movie tonight."

Cody couldn't believe his ears. "Yes! I mean, yes... Are you... giving me another chance?"

Bailey tilted her head to the side, pretending to be making a big decision. "Well... if you kissed me again, I might be inclined to say yes."

Overjoyed, Cody leaned in, but no sooner had his lips brushed hers than Mr. Moseby strode by. "No kissing on the job!"

The teens jumped apart. "See you at seven?" Bailey asked, blushing at the awed look in Cody's eyes.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." he breathed.

* * *

A/N: I originally wanted to keep the ending the same as the actual episode (i.e. Bailey and Cody end up still just friends) but Cody had to make his confession, and it was just too sad for Bailey to reject him knowing how he feels about her... I had to give them at least an ambiguously happy ending! Anyway, thanks to all my readers! Don't forget to review!


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